A head-cocked-to-the-side view of gaming from a hobby game veteran. Everything from Virtual Worlds to throwing rocks.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Ich bin ein Habbo-ite!

I was asked today to check out Habbo's economy, how they charge, and what they charge for. I see no reason not to share my findings with all (both?) of you! I just signed up today, so this is very much a first impression of Habbo's economy. I know there's more to it than this, but this is what I could dig up in a couple of hours.

Collectibles - Habbo releases (weekly, I think) an item that will only be available that week. The current item is a gondola (Italian canal boat) for 25 coins. They claim the original collectible, released back in 2005, was sold for 4950coins (About $800), though I'm not sure how they came to that number. In any case, collectibles seem to be a 'stock market' sort of thing in Habbo (plus they're pretty neat!)

Trophies - Trophies are an interesting item in that you can write something permanent on them when they are purchased. The idea is you reward yourself or other players with them.

Pets - At 20c pets are a little pricey, and they come in three flavors: cats, dogs, lizards

Games - You need tickets to play all but the lamest of the Habbo multiplayer games. Tickets are 2 for 1 coin, or 20 for 6 coins. When entering the game room, there was an ad for The Dark Knight (I've seen it, lay off!) I don't know what you get if you win the games, but I expect there's prizes.

Habbo Club - It's hard to tell, but it looks like it's 20 coins per month. You get:

Access to special items - there's a Habbo Club tab in the store.

Free furniture item each month

Special room layouts (non club members get boxes only)

Jump to the front of queue lines when waiting for rooms to load.

Oddly enough, I couldn't find were to join the club, but it seems like a big deal.

They have a 'coin subscription' listed on their payment page, but they are no longer offering it. I'm curious as to why they stopped. Another interesting thing about their payment structure, they only allow three 'purchase attempts' per eight day period, at least with normal credit cards.